Role of metrology in the digitalisation of surface engineering

Abstract

Industry 4.0 offers an opportunity to connect, improve and accelerate the development of new products, and to optimise their life cycles and supply chain dependencies. The essence of Industry 4.0 is digitally enabled design, production, and optimisation of supply chains. Data is at the heart of all this and appropriate measurements generate the trust and assurance in that data so that it can be used to develop the models and digital twins that can be used to predict in service performance and accelerate product design. Measurements are also essential to enable the correct control of processing conditions and parameters to ensure high quality products are produced. Surface engineering offers a range of technologies that can be used to improve the characteristics of surfaces leading to benefits beyond improved functional performance, such as contributing to the targets of net zero carbon emissions and increased sustainable use of materials. The Surface Engineering Leadership Forum (SELF) in its strategy [2] has identified digitalisation as a key step in the transformation of the surface engineering industry by 2025 leading to the creation of growth in sales from £11bn to £25bn by 2025 with the creation of an additional 50,000 jobs. To gain more detailed information on the role of metrology in surface engineering, a consultation exercise was carried out with industry and other stakeholders, supported by SELF and the EPSRC Networkplus on Digitalised Surface Manufacture. Eight representatives from surface engineering firms were interviewed and a workshop held with 24 stakeholders to get their views on key questions including: What properties do we most need assured data for? Which sectors need to be addressed? What are the specific applications within these sectors? How do we plan to use the data captured? What models and algorithms do we need to develop and implement? What do predictive twins look like? With respect to the properties of engineered surfaces, the highest interest was shown in tribological performance such as wear and friction and adhesion of coatings. The measurement of coating thickness, hardness, corrosion resistance, thermal conductivity, and composition and structure are also required. The main sectors that were stated to benefit from surface engineering were energy generation, transportation, and energy storage, with some interest in infrastructure and packaging. The areas where better models and algorithms are required are the prediction of properties and performance, for processing, and for the prediction of in-service behaviour and lifetime. Specific applications for engineered surfaces covered many different areas showing the widespread benefits of this industry. The results from the study will be used to inform the development of new projects on metrology for surface engineering within the UK’s National Measurement System and its delivery by NPL. It is intended that future work will continue the collaborations that have already been established particularly with industry, SELF and the EPSRC Network Plus on Digitalised Surface Manufacture (DSM) network, but also with the University of Southampton. The University of Manchester, and the Henry Royce Institute. The results of the survey suggest that future work should focus on some of the key measurements required for property and performance assessment such as wear and friction and adhesion testing. Thickness measurement also emerged as a method where further work is needed, but here there are many post processing methods available so either better information on available methods needs to be disseminated, or new methods developed for in process measurement where it can be used as a technique for close control during deposition. A specific area where close collaboration will be required is to develop better in process measurement techniques. Since NPL does not have surface engineering processing equipment, a joint programme of work with an appropriate processing supplier will be needed if work on in situ measurements for processing can proceed. All of these factors support the creation of a UK Centre for the Application of Metrology to Engineered Surfaces (CAMES). The role of the new centre would be to ensure the widest possible knowledge of the benefits of metrology for engineered surfaces and thereby to enable industry and other stakeholders to maximise the contribution that surface engineering technologies can make to the goals of net zero and sustainable use of materials. The centre would be established as a collaboration between NPL and the Royce Institute with the support of SELF and universities such as the Universities of Manchester and Southampton.